Role-Playing at Berkeley Model United Nations Workshop

On October 20, 2018, students from the BMUN (Berkeley Model United Nations) Club at DVGS attended a BMUN workshop at University of California, Berkeley. Model United Nations is an extra-curricular activity in which students role-play as delegates in the United Nations and simulate UN committees.

This year at the Delegate Workshop, there were three levels of committees: novice, chairing training, and crisis. Each student was assigned to a novice committee in which they were to join delegates from other schools. During the Delegate Workshop, the topic of the simulation was climate change. Each student chose a country they wanted to represent in during the simulation. Students learned about the functions of the conference which included the flow of debate, the points (point of personal privilege, point of order, point of inquiry), the motions (motion to open debate, motion to move into voting block, motion to open speaker’s list), speaker’s list, the structure of the speeches, the types of caucuses (moderated caucuses, unmoderated caucuses, formal caucuses), the structure of the resolution paper, and the voting bloc.

Attending this BMUN workshop enriched students’ knowledge on the current events in the world, and helped them have a better understanding of the setting and purpose of the United Nations. It was a unique experience for us to role-play as global citizens.